Improvement in wagon bodies and tops



F. H. BURNHAM.

WAG-0N BODIES AND TOPS.

Patented Dec. 26,1876.

HOTO-LIIHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON D C UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS H. BURNHAM, OF IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WAGON BODIES AND TOPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 185,623, dated December 26, 1876; application filed December 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that- I, FRANCIS H. BURNHAM, of Ipswich, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vagon Bodies and Tops, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to provide a more convenient means for carrying of large or bulky loads, such as loose hay and it consists, primarily, in a drivers seat and top so constructed and arranged with the body thereof that when a load of loose hay, forming a large bulk, is placed thereon, the drivers seat may be nearly surrounded by such load, it being built several feet above and upon the top of such seat, the frame-work consisting of stationary upright standards and cross-pieces, with a crowning floored overtop suflicientl y strong for such purposes, when connected rigidly with the forward end of the body, which body is provided with hinged side pieces, which may be turned down to allow for increased width of load whenever desired, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of Fig. l at broken lines X Y. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section of Fig. 1, as shown at dotted lines S T.

H H are hinged side pieces of the body, whlch may be turned down, as shown in Fig. 3, and are connected to the bottom by hinges P, which are firmly secured to the inside of the body by bolts or screws passing into the standards N, which are provided with shoulders A upon their lower ends, which shoulders come in contact with the ends of cross bars 0 when the sides are turned down, thus forming a strong brace or support for the same when the load is built upon such side pieces, as well as upon the bottom proper. Z is the drivers seat, having four upright corner-pieces or supports, R, to which are connected the cross-pieces I, and to their upper ends the rigid curved top J. This top being curved or crowning, anything falling upon the same will slide ott'.

- I am well aware that hinged side pieces have been connected with a wagon-body heretofore, as in Letters Patent granted T. M. Marcy, December 15, 1868, No. 84,892 theret'ore I broadly disclaim such.

I am also aware that Letters Patent were granted A. Dorn, November 8, 1870, No. 109,116, and C. Jarnagin, November 12, 1872, No. 133,035, for wagon-tops, all of which inventions I disclaim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- The above-described wagon-top, consisting of the drivers seat Z, four stationary upright corner-pieces, It, cross pieces I, and curved top J, all being constructed and arranged as shown and described, essentially as and for the purposes set forth.

FRANCIS H. BURNHAM.

Witnesses:

SYLVENUS WALKER, H. S. TALBOT. 

